Sacrifice Falling
by Dash Westwood
Summary: A near miss with a rogue spacecraft sends The Doctor, Amy and Rory on a mystery that seems to break the laws of time itself. A standalone episode set within Season 6 of Doctor Who.
1. Ground Zero

**Chapter 1: Ground Zero**

Candlelight shadows danced against the brown rock wall as practiced hands, expert fingers, wove strands of brown wicker. In soft, fluid motions, Elsia manoeuvred each thread against and through a neighbouring arrangement, crafting a shape that looked sturdy and durable. She placed it on the simple wooden workbench, and pushed down on it with both hands. The wicker fibres held firmly together, and Elsia nodded in satisfaction as she took up another long strand and resumed her weaving. Her actions were constant, like a flowing stream, and her hands paused only long enough to tend to an itch on the back of a silver scaled arm.

The air was musty, and seemed to visibly hang within the low ceilings of the dank underground space. Elsia didn't notice. To her it was normal; it had been this way for as long as anyone could remember. The dim light from a handful of candles did little to impede her progress, as her eyes had long adjusted to the conditions. To an outsider it may have appeared a dungeon, a grotto, but to Elsia, she was in her element.

A hooded figure entered the room, moving with long strides. "Is it ready yet?" It was an old voice, a male voice, and spoke in a demanding tone.

Elsia reached up to her face and brushed a strand of white hair away from her silver scaled face. "You can't rush the process, Alquel," she said simply. "You know that."

Alquel grumbled, then said nothing. He paced the room, mulling over his thoughts, then eventually decided he could remain quiet no longer and said, curtly, "It needs to be perfect."

"It will be. It always is." Elsia put down her wicker handiwork and turned to look at Alquel. He was on edge, nervous. His hands fidgeted, and she smiled sympathetically. "Alquel, trust in me. Trust in your life partner. You know it will be ready."

Alquel's mouth curled. Elsia had aged terribly. Harsh wrinkles had cut into her scaled face, ravaging it with time. Crows feet clawed at the corners of her black eyes. And her smile... years upon years had made that less of a sight than he was accustomed too.

A shame, he thought. What was once so beautiful is now eroding.

His lack of a response was noticed by Elsia, and her earnest demeanour changed. Her eyes fell as she turned back to her bench. "I need more reeds," she said. Her voice was cold.

Alquel waved a dismissive hand. "So send for the child."

Elsia pursed her lips, thin with frustration. "It wouldn't take long."

"I need to speak to the elders. The child can do it."

Elsia sighed, exasperated. She knew of Alquel's meeting, but asked anyway, hoping he would at least consider it. Hoping that calling for that child wasn't necessary. She turned around, ready to argue, but Alquel simpy stared at her, and he wasn't budging. Elsia sighed again, and put two fingers to her mouth and blew a shrill whistle. "Celphine! You are summoned!"

Alquel rubbed the side of his head, moving his fingers in circles. "My dear, there are less enthusiastic and painful ways to approach one's duties."

"Love of mine, the caves are many and the tunnels lengthy. How does sound travel if there is not the energy to propel it?"

Another grumble. A trademark non-answer from Alquel.

A moment passed, but no one appeared at the rock entrance. Elsia inhaled deeply and whistled again, louder, longer. "Celphine! Child! You are summoned!"

Timid footsteps approached the entrance, and a small child entered with her head bowed. She, like the others, had skin of silver scales. She wore a brown robe that frayed at the edges, and was far too long at the sleeves; even bunched up around her elbows, they draped low over her hands, signs of a hand-me-down that had not been adjusted to fit. Alquel turned and looked down at Celphine with disdain. The child was always late, he thought. No concept of time whatsoever.

Celphine cleared her throat. "Your bidding?"

"Get more," said Alquel.

Celphine did not move. Her head remained bowed. Almost inaudibly she said, "Was what I got not enough?"

"Obviously not," snorted Alquel. "Why would we call for you without a necessary reason? You will go and get my wife the reeds she requires. And you will tell no one. Am I clear?"

Celphine nodded, then skulked away. As she disappeared away from the candlelight and into the shadows, only one thought crossed her mind. The same thought she always had when Alquel, and Elsia, and the others, said that same statement:

_Who would I tell?_

* * *

The inside of the TARDIS jostled with wayward rocking motions. Rory Williams clutched the edge of the control console with both hands, desperate to stay anchored to the structure amid its wild behaviour. His brow was furrowed - he looked worried. Next to him, the Doctor was hunched over in a similar pose; he, too, had both hands gripping the console for dear life. The two exchanged worried glances.

At the other side of the array, Amy Pond was pumping down on a piston with feverish energy as she looked up at the time rotor, gauging its movement with hers. She peered around the column to address the Doctor. "How's my driving?"

He feigned a smile. "Well, good for a first-timer. Not bad. Pretty good."

She smiled back, and the Doctor leaned into Rory for a conspiratorial whisper. "Terribly, horrible. Totally out of synch. Can't she hear how misaligned those centrifuge tracks are?"

Rory looked at the Doctor. "Two squashed traffic cones and a bent Stop sign."

"Huh?"

"They're the reasons why Amy doesn't have her licence."

The Doctor's eyes went wide and his body lurched into action, heading towards Amy. "Okay, I think we're done with TARDIS flying for today." He put his hands over Amy's and relieved her from the console. "That was fun, that was interesting, that was my lunch threatening to make itself my afternoon snack. Note to self: install a basic mode."

Amy turned to the Doctor, but Rory distracted her with an arm around her shoulder. "Nice work," he said.

Amy looked at Rory for a moment, then her eyes narrowed. "You told him about the traffic cones, didn't you."

"Well, I may have mentioned—"

A sudden jolt lurched the TARDIS at a violent angle, sending the occupants crashing to the floor. This wasn't the usual travel tumble, this was something more. The console room seemed to tumble upside down, and desperate hands scrambled for a grip on something, anything. The lights dimmed, then returned, and for a moment it felt like the TARDIS was buoyant, bobbing on water. Very slowly the room righted itself, and the floor returned to an almost level position.

Amy looked over to Rory, then the Doctor. "That wasn't me," she said quickly.

The Doctor picked himself up off the floor. He stood very still, didn't say anything. He then rushed immediately to the console and navigated the controls in a flurry of movement. Levers pushed, buttons pressed, rotors spun, and as his gaze flicked down to each device, it flicked back up to the display monitor before him.

"The velocity, the power... a trajectory like that, it's got to be a piloted craft. Curvature of the tail thrust means it's travelling at—"

"Doctor," said Amy. "Want to share it with the class?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "You know how you're about to cross the road and some idiot on a bike speeds right past you and you fall back into the gutter with shock? That was more or less that, except the bike is a spaceship the size of a small city." He looked back at the monitor. "We just had a near miss - any nearer and we'd be scraped off the windscreen at the next pit stop. But from the looks of this thing..." He tapped the keyboard. "...it doesn't look like it's stopping any time soon. In fact, it's speeding up."

Rory approached the console and looked at the monitor. It looked like a star chart, with a handful of lines joining one dot of light to the next. Overlaying it was a curved red line, and moving over it at a rapid pace was a red dot, heading towards a large ball of green. Rory pointed to it. "What's that? Is that us?"

"No, that's one of the nearby planets in this..." The Doctor trailed off, and he leaned in until his nose was mere inches from the monitor's display. "It's heading right for it. That ship, it's heading right for the planet. It's going to crash!"

"Can't you do something?" said Amy.

"Can't you see I'm trying?" The Doctor whirled around the console, steering the TARDIS with one hand while furiously typing away on the keyboard with another. "I can't get a lock, it's moving too fast. Can't override the flight computer. And we can't board it, not at that velocity."

"So... you can't do something?"

The Doctor looked beaten, weary. All he could do was slowly stand away from the console and stare at the monitor before him. Amy and Rory joined him at either side and looked at the display. The red dot moved closer and closer towards the green sphere until, inevitably, they touched, and the monitor flashed white. A moment passed, and when the map returned, the green sphere remained. The red dot was gone.

"It... crashed?" said Amy.

The Doctor swallowed. His voice crackled. "Yeah."

Rory didn't know where to look. "I, uh... I don't suppose there'd be any survivors?"

The Doctor could only shake his head. "You saw how that thing threw us around in its tailwind. Anyone on board that ship or in the vicinity of the impact site never stood a chance. They never stood a chance... and I couldn't do anything."

Amy put a gentle hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "Couldn't we at least go see?"

* * *

The TARDIS landed with a thud, and the time rotors powered down with an aged wheeze. The Doctor tapped the display with a finger. "Hanzelis S," he said. "Also known as The Many Planet, according to the brochure. And that's where my knowledge ends."

The Doctor went to the TARDIS doors. He placed a hand on the latch as Amy and Rory approached him from behind. He turned to them. "Are you sure you want to put your game faces on? The speed and the size means this thing's not going to be pretty."

Amy nodded. "We nearly had a hit and run with the biggest bike in the galaxy. We're witnesses, we're not going to ignore what happened." She shrugged. "Call it atoning for those traffic cones."

"And the Stop sign," said Rory.

She punched him on the arm, and the Doctor raised a hand. "Okay, fine, but please, keep yourselves respectable. There's going to be a fair bit of..."

The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors, and couldn't help but lose his train of thought as he took in the sight before him. A barren landscape, drenched in a hot desert sun, baked a parched, cracked ground of brown dust and dirt. In the distant horizon, a rust-red mountain range ran as far as the eye could see. But it was what lay immediately before them that was impossible to miss.

Towering up into the sky was an aged, rusted ruin, surrounded by the dunes of an eroded indentation. A skeleton framework of bent beams and panels, of parts that had decayed and fallen apart from the ravages of time. An ancient wreckage, kilometres tall, embedded in a decaying crater.

Rory put a hand up to shield his eyes from the sun. "Where's the ship?"

The Doctor cocked his head. He checked his wristwatch, looked back into the TARDIS at the central console, then back out into the desolate landscape. "It's... there."

"That thing? That's the spaceship we just saw crash?"

The Doctor could only nod, and Rory shook his head. "You landed at the wrong time. You're a few hundred or thousand years out."

"We're at the correct time relative to the crash," the Doctor said. "It crashed, we landed, and this is it."

Amy said, "But that thing's rusted and old. It's a tetanus playground. Doctor, this must be the wrong time."

"It's not."

"But it has to be."

"It's not."

"So that thing, that mess over there, is the centuries-old ruin of a spaceship that crashed two minutes ago?"

The Doctor nodded. "It is. And I have no idea how."

**CHAPTER TWO COMING SOON!**


	2. Everything Burns

**Chapter 2: Everything Burns**

The rusted wreckage offered no answers. Amy and Rory and the Doctor, stared out into the landscape, looking in wonder at the enormous mass before them, weathered and decayed. It didn't seem real. It certainly didn't seem like a spaceship that had sideswiped them only moments ago. And the expression on the Doctor's face was clear: the wreckage confused him.

His mouth moved silently as he paced through thoughts coursing through his head, racing through possibility after possibility. Rory gave him a nudge, an attempt to break him out of his transfixed state. "Doctor?"

"How? How is this possible?" He spoke in barely a whisper, then gradually gained more volume with each word. "Time passes faster? A second out there is a hundred years down here? Memory blackout? Time displacement? I don't know." He thumped the doorframe of the TARDIS. "And I hate not knowing." He practically shouted the final word into the desolate beyond, and it echoed long and deep into the vast hot nothingness.

The Doctor's jaw clenched, and his shoulders slumped. Then, on a dime, his demeanour turned, and he straightened his back as he looked at Rory and Amy. "Come on," the Doctor said, and he clapped his hands. "Let's learn some stuff."

He bounded out of the TARDIS, and Amy and Rory exchanged worried glances. "Uhh, Doctor," said Amy. "You sure you want to stray from home base?"

He waved a dismissive hand. "Yes, yes, I know where we parked. Besides, how else do you expect to learn about stuff if you're cooped up inside a phone box of infinite space?"

"You've lead your share of desert expeditions?" said Rory.

"Well, I've been to a desert. I'll take my chances."

"No offence," said Amy, "but I think I'll take my chances with infinite space."

The Doctor stared at her. "You're not coming?"

"I don't have the shoes."

"Or the complexion," said Rory, earning him a thump on the arm from his wife.

The Doctor sighed. "But I've memorised a bunch of new jokes. I was looking forward to trying them out." He bit his lip, then shrugged. "Fine. Ginger's out. Looks like it's just you and me, Fred."

The two went silent, and Rory's expression remained passive, until the remark registered. "I'm Fred?"

"Well, I'm not going out there by myself. Heading out on an adventure, you need a travel buddy. Every school kid knows that, and they're only six."

Rory looked out at the hot landscape. He stammered. "But, but, someone needs to stay here and, uhh, make sure the… things are…"

"Things will be fine. I've got my top Pond on the case. Besides, look at you. Shirt, shorts. You're more than dressed for the part. Settled. Travel buddy. Let's go."

The Doctor ventured forth, and as Rory followed he cast a helpless glance back at Amy. He searched her with his eyes, but she simply leaned against the door frame of the TARDIS and crossed her arms. "He needs a travel buddy. And you need a tan."

Rory raised an eyebrow. She noticed his expression, and her demeanour softened. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'll read a book or something. You just come back safe, okay? And look after him."

Rory narrowed his eyes. "You owe me one." He turned and sighed into the desert. It was going to be a long walk. "Doctor! Wait up!"

* * *

His feet cracked the parched ground, the dirt dry and brittle from a scorching sun. The Doctor had removed his jacket and draped it over his head and neck, his shirtsleeves rolled up. Rory's polo shirt hung limp from his body, and large sweat stains had formed at his armpits and back. His lips were dry. The heat was intense.

Rory stared wearily into the horizon. The wreckage that had looked massive at a distance was appearing even more imposing as they approached it. It towered over them, impossibly high, and larger parts of debris had strewn for miles beyond the crater. Or, at least, what was left of it; the full scale of the impact site had long since been eroded by centuries of wind, rain, water. Rough edges worn away by the ravages of time.

"How much further?" said Rory. His face was hot.

The Doctor pointed towards the crash site. "That much further."

Rory stopped, put his hands on his knees and leaned forward to catch his breath. He looked around; the desolate landscape looked barren in every direction. Save for the occasional outcrop of dry brown reeds, there was nothing here.

"You couldn't have moved the TARDIS a little closer?" Rory said.

The Doctor snorted. "For such a short trip? And I suppose you think it's okay to drive to the corner shop. Not very eco-friendly, are you?"

"Since when were you so green?"

"What have you got against green? Some of my best friends are green."

"Whatever. Just get us there already."

The ground started to slope upwards as they approached the lip of the crater. They had to lean their bodies forward as they advanced forth, shifting their weight against gravity. The slope became steeper and steeper, forcing them to scrabble for hand holds in the dry ground. The Doctor gritted his teeth. "Maybe... maybe I should have brought the car around."

Rory puffed a weary wheeze. Would have helped."

They climbed, and the crest of the crater crawled nearer. Blue sky was coming into view. Eventually, after what seemed like an eternity, they scrambled to the top. The Doctor stood tall, hand shielding his eyes from the sun, and observed their surroundings. A large patch of brown reeds grew out of the dry dirt a short distance away, on the lip of the crater. Down in the giant bowl, the full extent of the scene was starkly visible. The rusted craft towered almost majestically out of the ground, surrounded by the crater rim that seemed to stretch in a ring that went for miles.

"Look at that," Rory said. Despite himself, just about of breath, he couldn't help but stare at the crash site, transfixed.

"An ancient wreckage that happened moments ago," said the Doctor. "The more at look at it, the less I understand it."

"But this is your thing. A wobbly-wobbly timey-wimey thing."

"Don't say that."

"Why not? This couldn't be more your thing, Doctor. You hop around throughout all of time and space, seeing the stars and helping lives."

"Don't say that. There's a time and a place for my life story and this isn't it."

"Why not?"

"Because we're being watched."

Nearby, the reeds rustled, and Rory felt a prickle climb the arch of his spine. He stood very still. "What?"

"The reeds have ears," the Doctor said. "Ears and eyes and intentions that I don't know about. So before you keep nattering on about me being into timey-wimey things, make sure you're not giving it all away to—"

The Doctor lunged forth and swept away the reeds with both hands. Behind them, a small being looked up at him with wide eyes. The Doctor cocked his head, stunned by what he had revealed.

"A child?"

He looked at his find. Silver scales glistened in the sun, creating an almost mirrored effect against the desert landscape. Its eyes blinked in a sideways slant, and stared at the Doctor in wonder. Neither one spoke. A silent moment passed before the Doctor broke the silence.

"Hello there," he said.

The creature said nothing. The Doctor shifted on his feet, tried another approach. "What's your name?"

The child gulped. "The legends are true," she said in wonder, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

"That's a funny name," said the Doctor. "And what do we call you for short? Legend?"

The girl continued her stare. Eventually she remembered the question. "Celphine."

"Celphine," the Doctor said. "That's a great name."

"You're not supposed to be here."

"Oh? And who says that?"

"Everybody."

The Doctor smiled patiently. "Sometimes everybody has the wrong idea. Sometimes it takes a single mind to make a difference, even when the masses say otherwise. That's why you're here, isn't it."

Celphine shook her head.

"Why are you here then?"

She suddenly seemed uncomfortable. She looked around, nervous. "I shouldn't be talking to you."

"Why not? I'm a great talker. Hey, I've learned a bunch of new jokes. Want to hear one?"

The girl said nothing. The Doctor straightened his back. "Fine, you don't have to talk to me. Talk to him instead." And he pointed to Rory.

Rory stammered. "Uh, I don't know-"

"He's your guy. He's not me. You're not talking to me now. Just tell this guy what this place is and why everybody says we shouldn't be here."

Celphine looked at Rory with a suspicious air. Rory stared right back before holding up a tentative hand, a sign of welcome approach. "It's okay," he said. "We're friends."

"Friends?" The girl practically spat the word in a hiss of distain. "After what you did, Doctor?"

That stunned Rory, and he looked at the Doctor in surprise. His expression was similarly shocked. "And, um, what exactly did I do?"

"This," said Celphine. "Everything. You know what this place is. The Ancient Sacrifice. You did this to us."

The Doctor leaned forward. "The Ancient Sacrifice? Is that what this thing is?" He gestured to the massive wreck in the crater. "When did this happen? And how do you know my name?"

The girl moved away. "Go away. I shouldn't be seen with you."

The Doctor playfully bounded up to her side. "Well, that's a shame, because I'm your new best friend until I get some answers from you or someone like you. You're a sprite of a thing, which means your society isn't far away, which means there's plenty of wonderful talking opportunities just around the corner. Unless you want me to shout rather than talk."

"No..."

The Doctor inhaled deep, and yelled into the desert air. "My new best friend Celphine knows something she's not telling me about this wreck- OW!"

The girl kicked him hard in the shin, and the Doctor bent over to hold it with both hands. Celphine glared at him. "Okay. Fine. You can come with me. Just keep your voice down out here."

Rory looked around. "Why? What's out here?" All he could see was desert in every direction.

Celphine sighed. "You two are stupider than the legends remember. Just follow me. And don't let anyone see you."

"But there's no one-"

"Just follow!"

Celphine moved towards the inside slope of the crater, towards a smaller patch of dry reeds. She pushed them apart with both hands to reveal a small opening in the rock - a tunnel. It was barely bigger than her tiny frame, and she crouched at the opening and cast a defiant look back at Rory and the Doctor. "You coming or not?"

Rory gulped. "Down there?"

The girl sighed and pushed herself down into the tunnel. Her body quickly disappeared, as though the ground had swallowed her whole.

The Doctor approached the opening and stuck his head inside. He couldn't see far; it looked totally dark. Black. He sat back on his haunches, removed his jacket from his head and pushed his arms through the sleeves. He straightened the lapels, adjusted his bow tie. "Seems we're known around these parts," he said. He rubbed his hands together, then held them out in a diving gesture. "A brand new ancient shipwreck, being name-checked by someone I've never met, and a dark narrow tunnel that leads goodness knows where. This place just gets more and more interesting by the minute."

"Wait!" Rory said. "What about Amy?"

The Doctor looked at the tunnel.

"What about the TARDIS?"

"Geronimo!" And the Doctor dived straight inside.

Rory dashed to the vacant hole. "Doctor!"

There was no response. Rory leaned back and thumped the dirt with an angry fist. He yelled in frustration, long and rough. The noise echoed into the distant landscape. Rory drew rapid breaths. That fool. Why couldn't he just stop? Now he knew he had no choice but to follow. He pounded the ground again, and slowly positioned himself in the mouth of the hole, sticking his head inside. He could feel his shoulders touching the sides. It was a tight fit. Rory took a deep breath, held it long and hard, and before he could talk himself out of it, he pushed into the dirt with his feet and disappeared into the ground.

* * *

It felt like part roller coaster, part slide. Rory tumbled downwards, forwards, sideways, in pitch black darkness. The passage turned at dangerous angles, the momentum throwing his body from one direction to the next. He felt like his body had turned upside down; he lost all sense of orientation.

The tunnel began to open up. His body felt less restricted as he continued his dangerous journey downward, but the speed threw him against the walls, banging into them with his shoulders. Eventually it opened out wider and wider, still twisting and turning left and right, still throwing him forwards, downwards and—

He felt weightless for a split second, then a thick heavy weight fell hard upon his chest, and he felt a sharp pain in his chin. His mouth tasted like dust. Rory focused his gaze and realised that he had stopped moving; the tunnel had thrown him onto a dusty floor, chest-first. His chin had taken some of the impact. He moved his jaw gingerly from side to side as he struggled to get a sense of his surroundings. It was dark, too dark. His eyes needed time to adjust.

A shadow fell over him. "Is he okay?"

Rory blinked. He saw two dainty legs, and he recognised the silver scales of Celphine. The Doctor's voice spoke to his side. "Of course he is. Nothing Mr Centurion can't bounce back from."

"Good. I don't want this taking any longer than it has to."

Rory felt a hearty slap on the back. "Come on, soldier. Vertical stance."

He slowly got to his feet, and winced in pain. His body hurt, but the Doctor seemed in remarkably good spirits. To his side, Celphine looked unfazed, sullen. She held a simple wooden torch in one hand, aflame and revealing the underground cavern with a soft orange light.

A cavern. That was where they were. It was a space no larger than the TARDIS console room, but there was no doubt about it: they were deep underground.

Rory coughed, and somehow remembered the ability to speak. "What are we doing in here?"

"We live here," said Celphine. "We. Our people. Everyone."

The Doctor said, "How many of you are there?"

"In my clan, several hundred. But the elders say numbers elsewhere are in their thousands."

Rory said, "Down here? Underground? Why not on top?"

The Doctor said, "I suppose it's much cooler down here. Makes for a sensible way to beat the heat."

"The surface is forbidden," said Celphine. "Only the elders may go there, and only then for a very short time. It's too dangerous."

"But not for you."

Celphine looked at the Doctor with angry eyes. "Especially for me."

Something about Celphine's words unsettled the Doctor. She made no effort to linger on them, instead turning and entering a nearby passageway, an arch cut into the rock. The light from her torch disappeared down the narrow hall, and the Doctor and Rory quickly had to follow. The Doctor hovered close to Celphine, hands clasped behind his back like an attentive student. "If the surface is as forbidden as you insist," he said, "how come you're allowed out?"

Celphine said nothing. Her expression was dark. She stared soullessly ahead as she kept walking - for a child, it was apparent she carried a lot of emotional weight on her young shoulders.

The Doctor noticed her lack of response. He decided not to push his child companion and instead turned his attention to Rory, shuffling along behind him. "You okay?"

"I'll live," Rory said. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Are you saying it's not?"

"I'm saying we're letting a kid who clearly dislikes us and particularly hates you lead us down a dark hole while my wife and our only means of transportation sit baking in the middle of the desert."

"Well," said the Doctor. "It's not without risk. But what idea is?"

"She said you did something to them. That you're the one responsible." Rory looked at the Doctor. "What did you do?"

Celphine shushed them both, "Quiet. They're about to start."

"Start what?"

The Doctor saw where Celphine had led them. They stood on a rock ledge, high above the floor of a massive cavern lit by dozens of fire torches. Above, a jagged ceiling of stalactites extended upwards until it disappeared into black shadow. Below, hundreds of being in brown burlap cloaks had gathered, huddled together in tight quarters, filling every inch of the available space. Only their faces were exposed, but it was clear they, like Celphine, were similar in their silver scales. In front the gathering, at the far end of the massive chamber, dozens of wax candles were jutting out of the rough rock wall, sticking out at awkward angles in a rough sort of arrangement. The murmur of the crowd was building. They were anticipating something.

One lone voice shrieked, and pointed a silver arm above the candles. The crowd followed her gaze and immediately erupted into a savage cheer. Some sort of brown shape, about the size of a person, was suspended from a rough rope, slowly being lowered down. As it descended closer to the candlelight, they could see that it actually was structured to resemble a person: two arms, two legs, a head. A neck, around which was tied-

Rory squinted. "Is that... is that thing wearing a bow tie?"

There was no mistaking the red rag that was fastened around the shape's neck. Fashioned into a limp bow tie, it stood out as the only unique feature against what was made apparent to be a man woven from brown wicker. The Doctor, transfixed to the scene, slowly reached a hand up to touch his own bow tie.

The massive crowd watched as the wicker structure descended lower and lower on the rope, until it came into contact with the candles. The flames caught, and the wicker started to burn. Pungent smoke wafted upwards into the high ceiling of the cave, past the Doctor and Rory. The crowd roared as one united entity. The wicker, the effigy, was quickly engulfed in flames.

The Doctor swallowed with a dry throat. "Pretend I'm an idiot," he said, maintaining his gaze on the burning object. "Explain what is happening."

"Isn't it obvious?" said Celphine. "Your actions may have been from long ago, but their effects continue to this day. You acted without thought, without care. Without remorse. Doctor, you're more than an idiot. You are the most despised being in the history of our planet."

**CHAPTER THREE COMING SOON!**


End file.
